Max Payne vs. Mazda, and the Sounds of Violence

IGN have posted an article on game audio, focusing discussion on Max Payne 3 and Forza Motorsport 4. Various members of Rockstar‘s audio teams are interviewed ( Nick Warseck, audio lead at Rockstar New England and Steve Donohoe, lead audio designer at Rockstar Toronto ) , along with Nick Wiswell and Adam Wilson of Turn 10. An excerpt of the article is below

Max Payne 3 is an incredible example of audio done right. For such an atmospheric game, packed with ballistic sounds and iconic music cues and steeped in noir tropes like Max’s regular narration, the audio in Max Payne 3 was obviously a hugely important part of the equation.

The team initially spent extensive time playing the original Max Payne, and Max Payne 2, as they wanted to keep the spirit of these games intact while adding a modern layer of quality.

“We wrote notes on the things we felt they did really well, and the things that we felt were iconic sounds that we would like to expand upon and bring over to the new game,” says Steve Donohoe, lead audio designer at Rockstar Toronto. “Those early games were quite groundbreaking in their cinematic approach, had excellent sound design and had a very unique style to them, so we had a really great starting point.”